Home > Semiotic literary criticism

The early forms of literary semiotics grew out of formalist approaches to literature, especially Russian formalism, and structuralist linguistics, especially the Prague school. Notable early semiotic authors included Vladimir Propp, A.J. Greimas , and Viktor Shklovsky. These critics were concerned with a formal analysis of narrative forms which would resemble a literary mathematics, or at least a literary syntax, as far as possible. They proposed various formal notations for narrative components and transformations and attempted a descriptive taxonomy of existing stories along these lines.

Propp's Morphology of the Folktale (orig. Russian pub. 1928; English trans. 1958) provides an example of the formal and systematic approach. In successive chapters, Propp analyzes the characters, plot events, and other elements of traditional folktales (primarily from Russia and Eastern Europe). For each of these key components he provides a letter designation (with superscripts to designate specific subtypes). He proceeds to analyze individual tales by transposing them into this notation and then to generalize about their structure. For example:

Analysis of a simple, single-move tale of class H-I, of the type: kidnapping of a person.

131. A tsar, three daughters (α). The daughters go walking (β³), overstay in the garden (δ¹). A dragon kidnaps them (A¹). A call for aid (B¹). Quest of three heroes (C↑). Three battles with the dragon (H¹–I¹), rescue of the maidens (K⁴). Return (↓), reward (w°). (Propp 128)

He then gives the complete structure of this story in one line of notation, the analysis complete and ready to be compared systematically with other tales:

β³δ¹A¹B¹C↑H¹–I¹K⁴↓w°

Later semiotic approaches to literature have often been less systematic (or, in some special cases such as Roland Barthes's S/Z, they have been so specifically and exhaustively systematic as to render the possibility of a complete literary semiotics doubtful). As structuralist linguistics gave way to a post-structuralist philosophy of language which denied the scientific ambitions of the general theory of signs, semiotic literary criticism became more playful and less systematic in its ambitions. Still, some authors harbor more scientific ambition for their literary schemata than others. Later authors in the semiotic tradition of literary criticism include Tzvetan Todorov, Mikhail BakhtinMikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin ( November 17, 1895 ( new style 1975) wrote influential works in literary theory and literary criticism. He was born in Orel, Russia. Key concepts associated with Bakhtin's works include dialogism, heteroglossia, the carnivale, Roland Barthes, Julia KristevaJulia Kristeva is a famous contemporary Bulgarian philosopher who lives and works in France. Life and work to be added A useful introduction can be found on. Bibliography In English, from http://www. text-semiotics. org/Kristeva. html#eng Kristeva et al., Michael Riffaterre , and Umberto EcoUmberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian novelist and philosopher, best known for his novels and essays. Biography and opus Eco was born in Alessandria, in the Italian province of Piedmont. He is an author and semiotician. He works as a professor.